Morning Brief: US, Europe team up against China on trade

What to watch today

On Thursday, investors will be inundated with corporate earnings as 74 members of the S&P 500 are scheduled to report results, with McDonald’s (MCD), MasterCard (MA), Southwest Airlines (LUV), Comcast (CMCSA), McKesson (MCK), Celgene (CELG), Under Armour (UAA), and American Airlines (AAL) all releasing earnings before the market open.

And alongside Amazon’s results after the close will be results from Starbucks (SBUX), Chipotle (CMG), Western Digital (WDC), Electronic Arts (EA), Expedia (EXPE), Intel (INTC), Lam Research (LCRX), and Amgen (AMGN).

Top news

(AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)

Trump and Europe are teaming up against China on trade: After meeting with European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker, U.S. President Trump said the United States and Europe will work together to “address unfair trading practices,” including “forced technology transfer,” “theft of intellectual property” and “overcapacity.” Neither man mentioned China, but that’s exactly who they were talking about. [Yahoo Finance]

Qualcomm walks away from $44B NXP deal: Qualcomm Inc. (QCOM), the world’s biggest maker of chips for mobile phones, said on Wednesday it would drop its bid to buy Dutch chipmaker NXP Semiconductors after failing to secure regulatory approval from China against a backdrop of widening trade tensions. [Reuters]

Big auto trim forecasts: Detroit’s Big Three auto makers lowered their profit outlooks for 2018, and each said fallout from U.S. tariffs on steel and aluminum is weighing on their bottom lines. The second-quarter results issued Wednesday by General Motors Co. (GM), Ford Motor Co. (F) and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV made clear the elevated costs will linger through the year and into 2019, shadowing a relatively healthy backdrop for U.S. auto sales. [The Wall Street Journal]

Barbie maker Mattel to cut more jobs: Mattel (MAT), hurt by the closing of Toys R Us stores, said Wednesday that it will cut more than 2,200 jobs as the maker of Barbie dolls and Hot Wheels cars seeks to save money. Like other toy companies, Mattel has lost sales as Toys R Us faltered. [AP}

The view of the U.S. embassy after an explosion on July 26, 2018 in Beijing, China. A man exploded a small homemade bomb outside the U.S. Embassy in Beijing, injuring only himself, according to police and an embassy spokesperson. (Photo by Emmanuel Wong/Getty Images)